my obsession: nick mantia

Pen & Ink ii

Pen & Ink 21

pen & ink

my obsession: nick mantia published by : mantia publishing inc . ,

saint louis , missouri

© Mantia Publishing, 2014 all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. umsl Press 1 University Blvd St. Louis, Mo 63121 Printed and bound in the United States.

dedicated to all the type dorks out there.

Introduction i– xii Various Book Covers 1–3 Eduardo Recife 4 - 7 Jackson Alves 8 – 17 Mateusz Witczak 18 - 23 Ginger Monkey 24 - 27 Xavier Casalta 28 - 33 Greg Coulton 34 - 39

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As far back as I can remember I’ve always had

an affinity for things that are hand-crafted. In a

world where everything is mass-produced and

over-saturated, something hand-made means

that it’s one-of-a-kind and original. It also adds

to the experience of the piece when you can look

at the detailed line work and imagine the time

the artist had poured into it. It makes the object

more sentimental.

I remember locking myself in my childhood

bedroom for what seemed like days on end

just drawing for hours. Usually I was drawing

something from a car or bodybuilder magazine

of my Dad’s.I’d use pencil and sometimes colored

pencils and would lose myself in the shading

and fine detail. I had taken art classes at school,

but most of the skill I developed was due to this

“practice.” Although, I never thought of drawing

as a discipline. I just did it, almost instinctively,

because I enjoy it. After years of pencil work,

once I felt my drawing and shading skills were

advanced enough, I began to explore rendering

in pen and ink.

Pen and Ink intrigues me for so many

reasons. First of all, and the most obvious, is that

unlike drawing in pencil, you are unable to erase.

There is no way of faking a steady hand or bad

line work. What also intrigued me about pen

and ink is the shading. Because you are working

in one solid color, often black, it is impossible

to shade from black to white like you can with

a pencil. So I began to research mark-making.

I quickly fell in love with the pain-staking process

of cross-hatching or stippling a drawing to make

grays. Later in life I would begin to pursue my

career as a graphic designer, and as I furthered

my design knowledge, I began to strive to find

a connection between this style I’d become so

fond of and high design.

A recent trend in culture and in design, is

the revival of the hand-crafted typeforms, often

using techniques from the 19th century. I believe

this is currently trending due to the continuous

rise in technology. The world has changed more

in the past 100 years than it has in the previous

thousand due to modern technological advances,

and many people today spend a lot of their lives

glued to the screen of their computer, tv or cell

phone. But there’s still a need that people have

to touch a physical object and get a sense for it

that they could not get by looking at a faximily of

it online. While some of these technologies have

revolutionized the way we live, others are actually

hindering us and our environment.

People who insist on hand-making things

recognize that there are those out there who

appreciate the process and the effort they

put into crafting that’s one of a kind, outside

the realm of a screen. This book showcases

designers who have made beautiful compositions

by hand-lettering with pen and ink.

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the broom of the systemAuthor: David Foster Wallace

Designer: Duke RileyArt director: Paul Buckley

bookcoverarchive.com

the best software writing Author: Joel SpolskyPublisher: ApressDesigner: Gary Cornell

bookcoverarchive.com

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rendezvous with destinyAuthor: Eric F. GoldmanPublisher: VintageDesigner: Ben Shahn

bookcoverarchive.com

barraabas Author: Barros Ferreira

Publisher: Clube Do Livro Designer: Vincent Di Grado

Linha Design Brasil

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misprinted typeDesigner: Eduardo Recife

Brazil 2009

Atlas of Graphic Designers,

Maia Francisco

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notre dame magazineDesigner: Jackson AlvesSau Paulo, Brazil2014 jacksonalves.com

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500th issue Designer: Jackson Alves

Sau Paulo, Brazil2014

jacksonalves.com

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popular mechanics Designer: Jackson Alves

Sau Paulo, Brazil2014

jacksonalves.com

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SOL Designer: Jackson Alves

Sau Paulo, Brazil2014

jacksonalves.com

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various hand-lettered postersDesigner: Mateusz Witczak

Warsaw, Poland2013

mateuszwitczakdesigns.com

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various logotypesDesigner: Mateusz WitczakWarsaw, Poland2013 mateuszwitczakdesigns.com

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masters of malt whiskeyDesigner: Ginger Monkey Bristol, UK2014 behance.net/darkness-whisky

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the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog Designer: Xavier Cosalta Paris, France2014 casaltaxavier.com

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call to action for prospective clients Designer: Greg CoultonParis, France2014

gregcoulton.com

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seventy Designer: Greg CoultonParis, France2014

gregcoulton.com

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mort lake Designer: Greg CoultonParis, France2014

gregcoulton.com

This book was created by Nicholas Mantia under the supervision of Jen McKnight as an assignment in Advanced Problem 1 in the fall semester of 2014

at the University of Missouri – St. Louis.

Pages were composed in Adobe InDesign, titles were hand drawn by Nicholas Mantia

and polished in illustrator. Endsheets are typographic sketches by Mateusz Witczak.

The typefaces displayed throughout are Amatic SC and Univers Lt Std.

Book of 2.

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